The program is designed to “provide financial support for the education of individuals who will advance the practice of antique motorcycle preservation and restoration, and the pursuit of knowledge that may be beneficial to the understanding and preservation of antique motorcycles.”

The Antique Motorcycle Club of America is the nation’s largest organization for vintage-bike enthusiasts. Its sister organization, the Antique Motorcycle Foundation, is dedicated to preserving the history of motorcycles and educating the public about the heritage of motorcycling.

“We are very pleased to announce this cooperative program between the Club and the Foundation,” said AMF President Dennis Craig. “There is no doubt that there are many worthy individuals who deserve support to increase our understanding of these historic machines, and we believe no group is better qualified to identify these men and women than the leadership of the AMCA.”

The AMCA has established a task force within the club’s Board of Directors to work out the grant application and approval process, which will be announced soon. “This new program promotes the shared interests of the AMCA and the AMF,” said AMCA President Richard Spagnolli, “and we look forward to awarding the first Old Iron Grant later this year.”

16 Responses to “Antique Motorcycle Club of America and Antique Motorcycle Foundation Come Together to Support Education”

“The program is designed to “provide financial support for the education of individuals who will advance the practice of antique motorcycle preservation and restoration, and the pursuit of knowledge that may be beneficial to the understanding and preservation of antique motorcycles.”
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All well and good because 35yrs. of enthusiasm has suffered a set back every time a “pilgrim” builder (a person possessing some degree of mechanical ability) pulls a perfect in appearance part (i.e; parkerized transmission base plate) only to find that hundreds of thousands of dollars were wasted creating a part that won’t fit because the “manufacturer” didn’t account for the 0.004″ loss of open space (0.002″ on each side) in the channel that the transmission slides back and forth in. And it’s suppose to be a “slide fit” so that the transmission can’t move under the pulling pressure of chains or belt.
It’s a “hardened” piece, so whatchagonnado?….get int there with your grinder and “fix” it, or take it over to your Bridgeport® and mill it?
No my friends. Instead of helping-out the “pilgrim” builder, the emphasis should be put on educating “manufacturer’s” about how to make parts that fit.
Where are the people that made those parkerized 1937-1964 transmission base plates?
Where do people like that go? Do they just lose a ton of money and fade into the fog?
Do those unusable parts just sit in a bin until they’re dumped at a swap meet?

What’s happen to the “stoke” of the pilgrim builder.

If all the manufacturer’s of parts for one model, the 1954-1957 Panhead, would get together (ha!) and plan the parts for this one model….THIS ONE MODEL….ONLY ONE!!!,
THEN YOU WOULD SEE THEM ON THE ROAD.
GOD-FREAKIN’ DAMN!!!

As a M/C parts dealer, my existence depends on knowing the “facts” that could support “believing in something I don’t understand”, so I made contact with the Taiwan Embassy Trade Exchange, in L.A.
My contact there has told me, more than once (and they know ALL of the major M/C parts manufactures in America that produce in Taiwan), and the paramount reason for parts that don’t fit…….
“The small part, short-run, manufacturer’s from America that look for jobber’s in Taiwan, most often do not have…uh…’er….(she looses the word description) ….”p-l-a-n-s”, said Mia from the Taiwan embassy.

“Suicide-Shift” – A left foot “car pedal” assembly, where holding down the pedal (in gear) is the same as a stick-shift pick-up truck. When you allow the pedal to retract.. then you’re moving forward rapidly. If you’re packing a gal with big feet…and she kicks it into gear while in neutral…you’ll be moving fast. [aka as an “Apple”.]

“Rocker clutch (OEM style) and jockey lever (an HD, 1939 part number actually) – A completely different style of riding. [aka “Orange”.] 🙂 Just to keeping the lingo correct and all as we go along.

“Old Iron Grant Program to promote the preservation of antique motorcycles. The AMCA will administer the grant approval process, while the AMF will provide funding of up to $5,000 per year.

The program is designed to “provide financial support for the education of individuals who will advance the practice of antique motorcycle preservation and restoration, and the pursuit of knowledge that may be beneficial to the understanding and preservation of antique motorcycles.”
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Let’s parse this out then for clarity:

“education of individuals who will advance the practice of antique motorcycle preservation and restoration”.

How are you going to educate these chosen individuals? How will they or anybody else “advance the practice of antique motorcycle preservation (does that mean not riding them to preserve them?)

Can you go to the Aprilla store and get parts? Or the Ducati store, or Sunbeam or Cushman or Vincient, or Viller’s, Triumph (might have a viable aftermarket already), BSA, Norton, or Matchless… (nope).

Old Harley’s, yeah…. it’s fragmented though… intricately dysfunctional (i.e; A key supplier for the cheap-to-build and popular 45, is a “telephone only shop” which is okay – not “online” like the rest of the world, like the customers that buy from them, and depend on them for news updates and “industry continuity”……. but the owner won’t get even a private, secret, hi-speed internet account, to at least be able to “lurk” on the early OHV Market that’s going on in the world around them for cry-yi. Where’s that at. Yez like the “Bay’-tles” mate?…. hating yer audience that feeds ya ? 🙂

And what about keeping the Old Iron running? You’re not going to find many reliable motor/transmission builder’s alive any longer. No one is replenishing the “mechanic pool”.

The shops where you can actually call-up talk to the mechanic that’s building your motor, I can count them on one hand.
There’s Olsen, there’s Howard’s, a NY company, there’s Stett’s, there’s Accurate Engineering (but they’re booked-up until November).
Don’t think so? Google Knuckle or Panhead mechanics. Go ahead. You won’t find any from the AMCA or anywhere else listed (except Howard’s).

So, anytime I see a subject pop-up here like this:

“education of individuals who will advance the practice of antique motorcycle preservation and restoration, and the pursuit of knowledge that may be beneficial to the understanding and preservation of antique motorcycles.”

I’m interested to know the logistics and real results. Where’s it going?

Its very simple… HD foot clutches came in a “Rocker” version or a spring-loaded “Sport” version.
And so, for the sake of “education” the spring loaded HD foot-clutch was (and still should be) called a “suicide-clutch” (NOT a “suicide shift”).

The foot clutches you’ve shown are weird ones. Homemade, obviously by someone under the influence of marijuana.
The rocker clutch pedals, as shown, have a pedal on each end and are spring assisted to pull the toe of the clutch pedal down, and activate the drive train forward.

The “suicide clutch” was originally a right-side Servi-Car pedal, that again, we suspect that a marijuana user had figured out it would fit on the left-side using a “cut & past” movement.

There is no “spring assist” with a suicide pedal, like the rocker pedal, only the (10) springs of the clutch. A suicide pedal must be installed with a reasonable amount of free-play, to keep the throw-out bearing from making contact with the clutch push rod. (A wear-thing).
So, a suicide pedal is always bouncing around.

Stett rides suicide – and with a “ratchet top” transmission. Too hard-core for my liking, but to each his own. Typically a suicide configuration includes the early jockey lever (with a neutral that can be found between every gear (in an emergency).

“Typically a suicide configuration includes the early jockey lever”. I meant jockey Lid.
There’s two different types of trans. tops, the “lid” and the “ratchet-top”.

1. The jockey lid is a1936-78 shifter-cover (that had changes made over the years (i.e; a neutral sending unit boss added in ) which contains a drum with a series of (4) indents where a spring loaded 1/2″ steel ball (#8872) to lock the transmission into the gear selected. The (34010-36) drum was used from 1936 through 1976, (except for the 1939 version which had different guide paths cut). A measure of safety when using the ’36-76 [tankshift] (34010-36) shifter drum on a jockey lid set-up is that a “false neutral can be found between each gear, where the detent ball is held depressed with no notch nearby to snap into.
The same jockey lid had a neutral light sending unit switch boss included in 1952. The shift lever. The competition or suicide foot pedal was borrowed from the (36813-47) Servi-Car (left-side) brake and not:
“a right-side Servi-Car pedal” that a marijuana user had figured out it would fit using a “cut & paste & flip” movement – as described by that lunatic above.

2. The ratchet top (civilized) and faster than a switch-blade, is a later lid with a round shaped gear selector on top of the cover. Inside are two opposing spring-assisted prawls. Moving the shift lever forward or backwards a short distance, allows the spring prawls to indirectly move a shifter fork in the transmission, and automatically find the gear for you. My favorite, because the hand movement can be deftly cultured – when combined with the FX shifter drum it creates a rocker clutch “sport shift” configuration that’s next to sex, imo. – from Vol. 2 (in part).

HD foot clutch configurations are what they are and do have peddle springs.

For example:
The stone-stock 42FL out in my shop does have a spring on it’s rocker clutch peddle.
Its an “over-center” spring to keep the peddle down in either position.

In any event, My point was simply that there never was a “Suicide Shift.”
That term appears to be a contemporary artifact, propagated by the uninformed.
(no one ever commuted suicide by the simple act of hand-shifting a scooter)

” My point was simply that there never was a “Suicide Shift.”
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Au contre mon fere 🙂 the 1947-up (to what?) Servi-Car had that left-side foot clutch pedal….like a ’58 Cushman Eagle (but the Cushman was a centrifugal suicide clutch and if you let the pedal retract to the foot board, the Cushman wouldn’t move forward too much, unless you were scratching your nose and accidentally moved the gas throttle “forward” while it was in gear…. then it would jump!

You know me….. i’m on a mission to stomp out this “suicide shit” stupidity ……….. 🙁
Ya only seem to get that sort-a drivel out-a Break-in-bikers.
(and that’s a term i bet ya haven’t heard in a long time…. 🙂

“i’m on a mission to stomp out this “suicide shit” stupidity ”
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Excellent theft-control though….. “Go ahead, if you can ride it try and steal it”.